After the “Three Gorges” we continued to the renown Mitchell Plateau National Park along the Gibb Road and then up the Kalumburu Road. We expected to do a bit of 4WD’ing after we turned onto the Kalumburu. The road was not the dirt Expressway of the Gibb where 95-100km was ok, we had to drop back to 80km the road had at least some corrugations, steep hills and creek crossings. However the scenery was wonderful, there was a range of landscapes – from swamps through to woodlands and rainforest – all home to diverse wildlife. The Darngarna (Livistona palm) is of special significance to the area, due to the age of the species – some of the palms are up to 280 years old. It is such a surprise to be driving through typical Australian Bush and suddenly find yourself driving through a forest of palms for 5-10km – just wonderful.

We stopped for the night at Miners Pool next to Drysdale Crossing, a more remote camping facility provided by the Drysdale River Station and preferred by us to minimise the number of people we had around us. Tony, the tour guide, had a great knack of getting us into all allowable bush camping sites with no-one else around, and Sandra and I preferred these to crowded campsites. At the Drysdale Station there was no option, you were on their property and had to camp where they provided. Miners Pool was more remote from their up market camping spot that had luxuries like showers, shop, fuel, ice creams and the Internet. Miners Pool did provide multiple long drops that were made from 44 gal drums cut in half, placed upside down and the seat “secured” on a hole cut in the drum. I tried one first and the whole apparatus started to collapse to the left from rust. Everyone thought this was appropriate as I was the only bloke on the trip that admitted to voting labour and a left leaning dunny was left to me, the rest walked another 100yds to get a more centred position.

Miners Pool had one other attribute, the fiercest mozzies we encountered on the whole trip, large welts came up where they struck and they could get you through your tee-shirt. We were better prepared on the return journey 3 days later when I had 2 shirts and a lot more DEET. The river had fresh water crocs and people went swimming, we were not yet convinced that swimming in water with any type of Croc was a good idea but it did not seem to bother a lot of others.

Next day after another 160km of the Kalumburu Rd we turned off into the 85km track into the Mitchell Falls. Again we had heard horror stories about this track and found it much more challenging than anything we had travelled so far but the whole team was happy to get a workout. We had to be a little careful but not what you would call tough. Even still, we came across some people that had had their whole front-end collapse on a rental just an hour before. Tony, who is a great bush mechanic, had a good look at it and called their rental company in Alice Springs via his satellite phone and gave them the precise problem and their GPS co-ordinates and after making sure they had plenty of food and water we left them there on the track. Apparently the rental company said that it would take them 1-3 days to get there and recover the vehicle, they must have been good to their word as 3 days later when we returned they were gone and there was no “stripped” and “burnt” vehicle like we had seen many times before. This was a good reminder to us all how remote we were and had been, one reason we travelled with Tony and Brenda is that they know what they are doing, how to show you all the aspects of travelling in these places and minimise the impact on your vehicle, and they know how to keep you on the road when something goes wrong. Tony made minor repairs on ours and other vehicles in the group with no fuss or drama and he always did a great job explaining the how and why of the problem and the fix, he is really a great teacher of all things practical, and a bit of a bush philosopher to boot.

The Mitchell Falls region of the Mitchell Plateau is very beautiful sandstone country. The area is well signed and the walking trails are very well marked. There is a large camping area near the Mitchell Falls carpark which was very crowded and scenic helicopter flights available. Some of our party chose to catch the helicopter to the top of the falls and walk back down with the group. The falls are a 4km walk from the main campgrounds. As it was so hot, our group left early (7:15am) in the morning to do the walk. The falls have a large amount of water which rushes over the top of the cliff face and cascades down in a series of large waterfalls. There are basically four tiers of the falls that can best be seen from the opposite vantage points looking back at the falls. Nevertheless the great views, colours and intense ‘energies’ of Punamii Unpuu lead most people to call this place ‘the jewel in the crown’ of the Kimberley. We swam in the head waters above the falls and with a twinge of concern about crocs and the current heading to the falls we ended up relaxing and enjoying a long cool swim before the walk back to the camp.

The Ranger was a great guy to chat with and when he gets stressed and there are too many people in the park for too long, he gets the helicopter pilots to take him up the coast and drop him off for 3-5 days of solitude and fishing. The day before we arrived he had an emergency where a tourist had fallen on rocks and had a head injury, they helicoptered him to Derby. Two years before another person went too close to the cliffs and slipped over the edge and was killed, so we were quite careful. Sandra and I went swimming in a creek near the campsite and there was a freshwater croc also there, we had finally started getting over our fear of the Fresh’ies at least, the fact that there were 5 other people in there before us had nothing to do with our confidence in getting in.

We were told that Mitchell Falls would be the highlight but I guess we had been spoilt by the quantity and quality of the great places we had been up to now. To us the highlight had definitely been the Horizontal Falls.

After Derby we were really looking forward to the’ Gibb River Track’. It turns out to be an outback highway and with the W.A. School holidays in full swing, the amount of traffic was horrendous, we were seeing 10-20 cars an hour and this sent the self-appointed radio controllers in our group into a frenzy of approaching traffic warnings and confirmations. We received several lectures on the “correct” CB lingo and were asked several times to always acknowledge with “copy that”. This only made us more determined to follow the advice of the tour leader and to only call and respond to important messages . We travelled in dust free air and consequently could see the road very well and did not respond to the constant calls.

The Three Gorges were Windjana, Bell and Adcock gorges. Windjana was a cut in the ancient reef ridge line, it waa just like the movies where you walk through a huge cutting and come out in the cool oasis. The river was absolutely full of crocodiles – we counted 80 in one group and got quite close to them. We felt very brave until it was explained that fresh water crocs can’t even bite humans without risking breaking their jaw, even still being that close to a very large lizard with big teeth takes a bit of doing. After the crocs we headed out to Tunnel Creek, a river that runs through a ridge line, very long, dark and wet. You could feel worried about losing your way but this was school holidays and the line of touches in the pitch black was never ending.

Windjana Gorge National Park

Next day we moved onto another campsite at Silent Grove and setup camp, we elected to not walk into the Bell Gorge and had a very relaxing day in camp while the others hiked through the heat and clambered over lots of rocks to have a swim. A couple of injured parties returned to camp with grazed knees and legs and we felt justified in our decision to skip this one.

Graham & Sandra on top of hill looking down into King Leopold Ranges Conservation Park

After breaking camp there was one more Gorge left in us and Sandra and I decided to make it to the swimming hole on this one. The days were getting very hot by now and we only made it to the first pool, we decided to enjoy that one instead of the main pool. We left ‘The Gibb’ and headed up the Kalumburu Road towards the Mitchell plateau. The road was rougher than the Gibb but still the “best it has been for 20 years” according to Tony our tour leader. We had been told horror stories about breakdowns and punctures and I realised that when travelling on 4WD trips to never rely on the travellers opinions of roads, only locals. Our target for the day was the ‘Miners Rest’ on Drysdale River.

That night we had a bush camp on the banks of the Fitzroy river, that was part of Yeeda Station. There was already plenty of campers there, so a bit of a squeeze to find spots for the lot of us. The camp was a bit scary as the river was very active with crocodiles, there were two basking in the sun on a small island in the river and baby ones swimming around just below out camping spot. Just before we went to bed we did a spot like search of the river and we saw eight sets of eyes shining. Also we could hear lots of movement outside our trailer in the night. It was a very unsettling night.

Cape Leveque is located on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula. A drive from Broome to Cape Leveque includes some 200 kilometres of sealed and unsealed road characterised by corrugations and sandy sections. Cape Leveque is hidden and its hard to get there. We were ‘wowed’ by the pristine white beaches and the golden red cliffs. We fell immediately in love with the place, it is such a peaceful, tranquil place.

Isn’t the colour beautiful?

We stayed at Kooljaman at Cape Leveque which is a unique wilderness style camp jointly owned by Djarindjin and One Arm Point Aboriginal communities. While there we visited three different aboriginal communities.

The first was Lombadine which is set amidst the untamed beauty of nature. Lombadina Aboriginal Corporation, a working aboriginal community, which is working towards self sufficiency through community ventures which include a general store, artefact and craft shop, a bakery and tourism. We spent a long time sitting in the village green under the huge fig trees watching the slow activity of the village. The village was perfectly set out and well tended.

The centre of the village

Sandra standing outside the catholic church, it was very old and was a beautiful example of bush carpentry.

The beautiful beach area outside the village.

On the second day we visited One Arm Point Community, where we viewed the spectacular Buccaneer Archipelago and saw the huge tidal flows of the Kimberley.we sat on the cliff and watched the tide it was magnificent, so fast. We also visited the Community’s aquaculture hatchery, complete with reef fish and trochus shell.

The current was moving so very fast.

A young lass showed us through and gave a very good explanation of each of the breeds of fish and sea life. There was three ladies selling artefacts made from trochus shells. The old gentleman was complaining that they were selling them faster than he could make them.

Graham watching the sunset at Cape Leveque

The next day we left Cape Leveque, we were both very sad to leave it as it was a magic place and a good place to spend a longer time some day. On the way down the Cape Leveque Road we stopped at the Beagle Bay Aboriginal Community, it is the home of the Beagle Bay Scared Heart Catholic Church that was built in 1918 by the Pallotine Monks and is famous for its glimmering pearl shell altar. The school was next to the church and the children were going in for their end of term mass. I loved watching them and hearing the beautiful singing. It was the first aboriginal community that we had seen that was busy, with plenty of people out and doing their daily tasks.

Sunday (30th June) we left for Cape Levieque, on the way we stopped at the Willie Creek Pearl Farm. It gave us the chance of visiting a working Pearl Farm and was well worth the trip. A vibrant young girl demonstrated the intricate process of cultured pearling, including live oyster seeding. There was a beautiful showroom which housed an extensive display of locally handcrafted jewellery and loose pearls. The tour also included a boat ride on the azure-coloured estuary.